Control for air-delivery cooler for turbo-compressors



E. H. SHERBONDY. CONTROL FOR AIR DELIVERY COOLER FOR TURBO COMPRESSORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1988. 1,371,444.

RENEWED JAN. 26, I921- Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

MWENTUR Edy-Z If. Shel-60nd ATTORNEYS EARL H. SHERBONDY, OF GLEVELAND, OHIO.

CONTROL FOR AIR-DELIVERY COOLER FOR TURBO-OOMPRESSORSJ Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

Application filed May 14, 1918, Serial No. 284,558. Renewed January 26, 1921. Serial No. 440,223.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EARL H. Summoner, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Im rovements in Controls for Air- Deliver 5 (Case T,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an apparatus for automatically cooling more or less of the air that has been compressed by a turbocompressor. The turbo-compressor in question is adapted to be operated by the waste gases from an airplane engine, and is 1ntended to supply air under pressure to the carbureters of said engine, in order to compensate "for the loss in power ordinarily met with at high altitudes, due to the thin air and consequent low oxygen content of the air at such altitudes.

The air compressed by the com ressor becomes uite hot for a number 0 reasons-,- First. ompressing air with a perfect compressor will, as is well known, raise its temperature. Second. The inevitable frictional losses which take place in an air compressor also heat up the air. Third. The air casing for the compressor, in view of the limitations of space in an airplane fuselage, must be positioned rather close to the turbine casing, which, in view of the fact that it is operated by the hot exhaust gases, is itself at a rather high temperature. This results in more or lessradiation of heat to the compressor casing, and further heating of the air.

In my co-pending case, Serial #231768, filed April 30, 1918, I have shown means for cooling this air which, due to the just mentioned features which cause heating thereof, is too hot for use in the carbureter.

It is an object of this invention to provide automatic means for cooling a portion of the air so heated, or all of it, so that its temperature is maintained substantially con stant. 1

It is a further object of the invention to provide a branched delivery pipe from the air compressor, and to haveone of said branches lead to a cooling device for the air, and to rovide means for directing more or less of t e air through the coolin device to maintain the temperature of t e final air within a suitable range.

oolers for Turbo-Compressors,

Other objects and advantages will appear as the description proceeds.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows the device 1n place on an airplane en 'ne; Fig. 2 1s a vlew on an enlarged scae of the branched delivery pipe and controlling valve therefor; Fig. 3 is a view of the thermostat that controls said valve; and Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

The turbo-compressor is mounted in front of the cylinders 1 of the airplane engine, and comprises a turbine casing 2 and acompressor casing 3. A turbine wheel (not shown) is mounted in the casing 2, and is intended to be operated by the exhaust gases from the engine, which are led into the casing through the opening 4, and may escape therefrom through a suitable openin on the other side (not shown).. A centrif ugal blower wheel is positioned within the casing 3, the air for said wheel entering through the flaring mouth 5. The air compressed by the compressor wheel asses into the delivery pipe 6. The detaile structure of the turbo-compressor unit just described forms no part of the invention, and is not further described here. For further details, attention is called to my co-pending case, Serial #224,357, filed March 23, 1918.

The air delivery pipe 6 is provided with the branches 7 and 8, the branch 7 opening into a cooler 9, and the branch 8 opening into the final air pipe 10.

As set forth in m co-pending case Serial No. 231,768, filed pril 30, 1918, a cooler 9, which may be made in a number of different forms, is here shown as comprising a casing 9', mounted on the top 11 of the airplane fusela 0. This casing 9' is provided with per orated end plates 12 and 13. Mounted in these perforatlons are a series of open-ended tubes 18, facing respectively, forwardly and backwardly in the direction of travel of the airplane so that as the air plane travels throu h the air the cool atmospheric air wil travel through these ipes and keep them relatively cool. The liot air from the branch 7 passes around the outside surfaces of these cooling pipes on its way to the final air pipe 10, and so will give up some of its heat during its transit through the cooler 9. Baflle plates 15 may be provided to cause a proper circulation of the air through the cooler. A valve 16 is positioned at the junction of the branches 110 7 and 8, and is so positioned that it will distribute more or less air to the branches 7 and 8, respectively, accordin to the position in which it may be. As a own in Fig. 2, the valve 16 is ivoted at 17 and is there positioned to sen all of the compressed air throu h the branch 8 to the final alr 1pc 10 wit 7 out cooling any of it. It is evi ent that when the valve 16 is in the osition shown at 16', all of the air will e sent throu h the cooler. And it is further evident t at in the position intermediate these two ositions just described,.the air will be distributed to the branch pipes 7 and 8 to cool more or less of it.

The air that is passed through the cooler is delivered to the finalair pipe 10, from whence it passes to the carbureters 17 and 18 for the engine.

The automatic control for the valve 16 will now be described. A suitable temperature responsive element, such as the thermostat 19, may be positioned in a casing 20, interpolated in the air pipe 10. This is shown here diagrammaticall and may be of any of a number of possible orms. The thermostat controls a rod 21, which in turn is connected to a bell crank 22, pivoted at 23 and on 24, mounted on the casing 20. The other arm of the bell crank controls rod 25, which is connected to an arm 26 that controls a ivot 17 of the valve 16. The operation oi the valve will be obvious. If the air in the final pipe becomes too hot, the thermostat expands and causes the rod 25 to be pulled to the right and so moves the valve 16 all or part way to the position 16" to distribute part of the air to the branch pipe 7 for the cooler. On the other hand,

should the air compressed in the pipe 6 not be overheated at all,the thermostat would be relatively cool and would hold the valve 16 in the position shown in Fig. 2, so that none of the air goes through the cooler.

Whlle I have shown possible embodiments of my invention, it should be understood that 1t may be carried out in other ways, as defined within the scope of the appended claims. a

I claim 1. In combination with an a rplane fuselage, an engme a turbo-compressor, adapted to be operated y the exhaust gases from the engine, and a cooler for the air compressed by said turbo-compressor, positioned on the outside of said fuselage.

2. The combination as claimed in claim 1, in combination with a branch pipe inside the fuselage and thermally operated means to distribute the compressed air between the cooler and said branch pipe.

3. The combination as in claim 1, and a by-pass around said cooler.

4. The combination as in claim 3, said by-pass positioned within the fuselage.

5. The combination as in claim 3, and means controlling the passage of air through said b -pass.

6. T e combination as in claim 4, and a valve controlling said by-pass.

7. The combination as in claim 6, and means controlling said valve.

8. The combination as in claim 2, said thermally operated means governed by the temperature ofthe air as it leaves the cooler.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

EARL H. SHERBOND'Y. 

